A Brit in Allenville
by GracefullySlick
Summary: When former women’s football player Samantha Carter, of London, England, gets sent to Allenville Women’s Penitentiary,Texas on false charges, her life becomes a lot more dramatic than she thought possible.Knauer/OC. Rated M to be safe.Review as you wish.
1. Chapt 1

_**Introduction**_

The humidity seemed to be getting worse as the bus drove further into Texas.

As I looked out the dirty window of the bus, all I saw was sandy desert and clear blue sky, an illusional wavy line breaking them apart.

Just from peaking around at the other occupants of the bus I knew I didn't belong here, on a prison bus that is.

I know you probably hear that a lot, but I am as honest as I can possibly be.

My name is Samantha Carter, I like to be called Sam, and I hail from North London, England. I used to play professional football for the Arsenal Women's team until I suffered a bad hamstring injury that stopped me from playing hard out.

I moved to Texas a few months ago due to, still unresolved, family reasons and lived with a woman I thought was my mate, but she turned out to be a total you-know-what and she's the reason I'm on my way to Allenville Women's State Penitentiary.

Anna Doyle was a former team-mate of mine back when I played football, until she moved to America to play and when I moved she offered me a place to stay, I stupidly accepted.

On my third week at Anna's ranch the police turned up on her doorstep.

It turned out that a whole lot of jewellery and expensive clothes had been stolen from an inner city mall near where Anna lived. The police were given a search warrant and looked through the whole house.

Guess where they found the stolen goods; the wardrobe inside the room which I was staying in was stocked with glistening gold, diamonds and outfits from the newest Versace collection.

Because it was 'my' room I was blamed for the robbery, with Anna giving me an annoyingly fake disappointed look. If I wasn't in enough trouble already I would've rung her neck. I don't even know why she would need to steal stuff like that when she was making good money anyway.

I was put on trial, no word that came out of my mouth was believed by the jury and I was found guilty and sent to prison for nine years. So here I am.

On the bus were other new prisoners. Some arrogant looking, some weepy and a few had no sign of any emotion on their faces whatsoever. At the front were two burly looking female guards with smirks on their faces as the bus drove closer to what looked like a very cliché-styled prison; built in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by barbed wire fences and sky-high watch-towers.

As the gates opened the bus made its way in and stopped when it got to the second gate.

The guards stood up leaving a one person gap between them and one of the guards, who had brown hair that was pulled into a tight bun under her uniform cap, started to speak in a louder than necessary voice.

"When we call your name you will get up and walked out of the bus, stop in one line when you get to the gate. Adderton, Charlie…" she started the role call and each girl stood up and walked outside.

"Carter, Samantha…" she called my name so I slowing got off my seat and walked outside, almost being rudely tripped by a prisoner a lot bigger than I was, so I kept walking like nothing happened.

When I stepped outside the sun seemed to smack me in the face with its intense heat. My pale complexion wasn't exactly suited for sunlight. At least I might get a tan… or skin cancer. My long, thick brown hair was also becoming intensely frizzy and dry, so much so I had a feeling I was beginning to look like Cousin It.

When all the women were outside we were taken inside the gates and through the fencing we got our first view of our new life.

We were led to what seemed like a main hall and were introduced to the prison warden, known as Warden Adams. Adams was a middle-aged female warden; she had obviously professionally kept long, brown hair and I think she may have had a couple of Botox injections; her eyebrows were quite high above her smooth lidded eyes, her whole face was wrinkle-less and her cheeks were way to round and plump.

It wasn't what she said but that not-so-secret arrogant look on her face, knowing of the amount of power she had over us, that made her seem so intimidating.

"Let me get one thing straight, you break _my _rules and it will be a huge regret on your part." Adams stated quickly and walked off, obviously not wanting to waste her time on us, and left us with the guards.

Before we were shown to our cells the guards had to do a strip search, which has to be the most undignifying experience in history.

As I stood there naked, with sweaty hands running over my body, I bit my lip, closed my eyes and tried to imagine that the guard was some stunning man instead of a burly woman, but none of that helped. Not even Johnny Depp could make me feel better about this situation.

After the search had finished I was given my uniform, got dressed and was shown to my cell. I chose to wear the shorts with the white singlet top I was given, even though it made me look like I was trying a bit hard, but if I wore anything bigger or longer I might just melt into a puddle. The only things I was allowed to wear other than the uniform and my own underwear was the cubic zirconia nose stud placed in my right nostril and my Arsenal F.C cap.

My cell wasn't great, as one would expect, but at least it was my own and I had no room mate to share it with. I kind of have a hard time trusting people at the moment.

At eleven o'clock sharp a bell, much like a school's, rung and everyone was ordered to the cafeteria for lunch, whether they were hungry or not.

I stood in a line for about five minutes waiting for my vomit-like cream corn and buttered bread, which didn't look so bad, maybe I'll be living on bread for a while.

Looking quite pathetic as I stepped slowly through the room trying to spot a seat that didn't seem dangerous I finally found an empty spot in the corner table. As I took a step towards the table I felt someone lightly grabbed my arm.

I turned around to see a young, red-head had stopped me.

"I wouldn't go there if I were you." She spoke with a thick Texan accent. "That's where the _most_ dangerous ones sit." She explained, pointing to the women at the table all sitting in a tight group.

I just nodded and continued to look lost around the hall.

"Come on, girl," The vibrant red-head started to speak again, with laughter in her voice, and waved to the empty seat in front of her, "take a seat." She said with a welcoming smile.

I complied having no alternative option and sat down. "Thanks." I said quietly.

"I'm Mindy Austin." She introduced herself putting her hand out.

"Sam Carter." I said shaking her hand. I noticed Mindy was quite bubbly for an inmate. "What are you in here for?"

"Fraud." Mindy answered simply. "That's a lovely accent by the way. Where are you from?"

"London, England."

"Ah, far side of the pond huh? So what d'you come all the way to Allenville State for?"

I knew the answer 'didn't do anything' wasn't going to be easily believed around here, so I just told her what I was in here for. "Robbery."

"Well you best watch your back. A pretty thang like you is very sought after in this here prison."

"That really happens?" I asked, remembering stories, both fiction and non-fiction, about what happens between prison walls.

"Of course." Mindy said matter-of-factly, with a disgusted look on her face. "I think its cause a lot of women here haven't had sex in so long that they begin to care less about gender and just go for anything, or anyone rather, they can get their dirty little hands on."

My life couldn't possibly get any worse right now.

*

Two weeks later I wasn't exactly settled into my new 'home', but it was just a tiny bit better. A few incidents occured that I'd rather not think about, like having some immate's used tampon placed on my toothbrush and almost being pushed down stairs to fall onto gravel, but other then that I'm doing okay.

I stuck with Mindy like she was a school mate and was doing pretty alright.

Late third week of my stay about twenty inmates were called into the eating hall on orders from the warden.

Upstairs at the railing looking over the hall came out Warden Adams in what seemed a very rare appearance.

"I have been given a request by Warden Hazen of the male penitentiary next to ours and I have accepted." Adams announced and everyone in the room had an expression on their faces that said they had no idea what she was talking about. For some reason the name Hazen sent chills up my spine.

"You might have heard or seen the guards verse cons game that Allenville played last year, since the cons got away with a victory Warden Hazen is organising a re-match and he has asked for a little help from me." Adams took a deep breath.

"Not wanting to lose any of my guards at the moment, I have chosen you," she indicated to us, "the less destructive inmates, to help out with the two teams. Half of you will be helping the guards and half the inmates. It will only be minor things like drink or towel-fetcher."

When she made the announcement chatter erupted through the stunned inmates. The feelings everyone had were a mixture of excitement, annoyance and some inmates had the feeling that at any moment the warden was going to yell out that it was all a joke.

"Silence!" Yelled one of the guards and everyone's attention was drawn back to the serious face of the warden.

"I assure you, this is no joke." She roared. "You will sign your name on either the guards or the inmates, only ten spots for each."

The twenty inmates, including Mindy and myself, lined up in single file infront of the form.

When it was my turn to sign the form I saw that I only had one choice; all the guard team spots had been taken, don't ask me why, probably to suck up. If the male guards were anything like the female guards then I wouldn't blame anyone for wanting to get on the guards good sides.

I was the last one to sign my name so, lucky me, I got last choice: Water girl.

Before me, Mindy had signed her name and chose to be towel girl.

I don't really care though; American Football has never been my forte, I'm more of an English football person, played football half my life. But if this was going to get me out of the prison for atleast a few hours than why not?

The team of inmates were told that they would be leaving for the male penitentiary tomorrow afternoon and that the game was going to be held about seven weeks from now. Exciting isn't it, I thought rolling my eyes.


	2. Chapt 2

_**Chapt. 2**_

Next morning I, along with the other inmates, were told to pack the little things we had as we wouldn't be allowed to come back for the next seven weeks in case we had forgotten anything.

Down in the hall during breakfast Mindy seemed much overcome with excitement, I had no idea why.

"Didn't you see the one they played last year?" She asked me and I shook my head no. "It looked a whole heap of fun. The cons also have a former professional football player on their team; you might know him, Paul Crewe."

"Nope, can't say I've heard of him. I don't know anything about gridiron, except from what I've seen in films." I told Mindy.

"I don't know much either, but I still know who Paul Crewe is. He was the one that shaved those points in some game. He's quite the good looking player if I say so myself."

"He's not that great looking. He's alright for a white boy though." Someone interrupted and Mindy and I turned to see Jodie Brown, a curvy, dark skinned woman who had also signed up to be on the cons side.

"Can you believe so many girls wanted to sign on the guard's team?" Jodie questioned as her friend Greta Rowland walked up to join us, Greta had also signed to the cons team.

"Kind of." I started. "Getting on the guards good side could give them an easier time."

"True, but that's just disloyalty." Grunted Greta. "Anyway, since we're all on the same side we gotta stick together, especially in a male prison."

"That sounds like a good idea now that I think about it." Sighed Mindy who seemed to be finally grasping the reality of the situation.

*

Finally after lunch, during which I hadn't eaten anything due to the big vomiting butterfly taking up all the room in my stomach, the bus for the male prison arrived to pick us up.

I picked up the tiny bag carrying my uniform and my Arsenal hat, which I promised myself to guard with my life, and I stepped onto the bus.

Mindy sat next to me on the way there and we actually had a normal conversation. Half the time we kept getting shushed by the two guards every time our voices were getting too loud.

The ride didn't take as long as I thought as I hadn't realised the prison was so close to the female one and we got there after about only ten minutes.

Just like at the women's penitentiary the bus drove up to the second gate and when it stopped, after having our names called out, we got off the bus, this time to be greeted by very big male guards. Though I guess everyone would look tall against my mere 5'4 frame… I know I'm short.

I noticed one of the guards wasn't as tall as the other guards. The man wore the same uniform but topped it off with a white cowboy hat. For some reason he caught my eye straight away, actually not for 'some' reason, he wasn't bad looking. I shook my head of that thought straightaway, getting close to a guard was probably the stupidest thing I could do in a place like this.

He walked forward with a sort of strut that would have looked forced on anyone else, but seemed to suit him naturally and perfectly.

"Afternoon. I'm Captain Knauer." He looked tired as he greeted us. "If you signed up to help the guard's team could you please step towards Sergent Lambert and Garner over there," he pointed to the two guards standing closest to the gates, both were huge, one had brown the other was blonde, "as for those of you who signed up for the inmate's side stay where you are."

When Knauer finished the ten women who signed for the guard's side walked towards the gate and the rest of us stayed put.

Knauer cleared his throat when the guards group went inside the gates.

"Listen up. When I call your name you will step just beside me and stop there." He looked down at the list. "Abigail George…" He called first and a round, blonde girl walked up beside him looking quite scared.

When he called Mindy's name I was the only one left but I thought it was best to wait until my name was called.

"Samantha Carter." He finally looked up from the list when he said my name and his eyes, through sunglasses, seemed stuck on me as I walked toward the other girls.

He cleared his throat a bit rougher this time.

"Follow me." He ordered, much like an army drill sergeant, and we followed him closely.

Walking through the grounds we caught a glimpse of the male inmates. All looked very big, mean and intimidating.

We were led to the farther end of the prison, in what looked like the oldest part of the prison. The building was a lot more rusted and mouldy than the other blocks.

Inside were also quite old looking cells, which all the ladies guessed to be our new rooms.

"Carter." Said Knauer suddenly and I was startled as I faced him, thinking that I might already be in trouble. "Quickly unpack your stuff, put your uniform on and come straight back, the warden wants to see you."

"O-okay." I stuttered and put my stuff in my cell. Once I unpacked and got changed I did as Knauer asked and went back to him straightaway.

"Catch ya later." Mindy whispered giving me a sympathetic look as she walked past.

Knauer and I walked back over to the other side of the prison and into a building that seemed a lot newer than everywhere else. We walked into a dark corridor and as we made our way through I couldn't help but notice Knauer kept looking back at me, probably to check that I was still following him.

He took me to a fanned room in which sat a woman whom I took to be the secretary; she seemed to be quite fond of her hair, which must have had about two cans of hairspray to hold it up the way it was.

"Wait here." Knauer pointed to the seat just next to the secretary's desk.

"Now what's a pretty thing like you doing in a place like this?" Asked the secretary, seemingly very interested in my story.

"Just… made a few mistakes I guess." I answered not wanting to go into too many details.

"You're from England? Why didn't they just put you behind bars there?"

As soon as I opened my mouth to answer Captain Knauer opened the door and called me in.

I pushed myself up off the seat with my back, as my hands were still in their handcuffs and I went through the door to a refreshingly air-conditioned room. I realised how much I missed the cold when I stepped into the office. Knauer walked out of the room closing the door behind him.

It seemed to be the best equipped room in the place; leather lounge, television, trophy case, book shelf filled with new books, the room seemed to have everything.

There were two desks; one was small and had stacks of papers covering the top. Behind it sat a man that looked like an overweight version of Colonel Sanders.

The other desk was a nicely varnished maroon colour and was a lot cleaner and bigger than the other one. Standing towards the window behind it was a tall, balding man who had to be Warden Hazen.

He turned around with a big smile on his face.

"First off, I just wanna explain myself." Hazen began. "You're probably wondering why I asked for the help of you and the other female inmates."

I nodded careful not to get on his bad side.

"This here is Errol Dandridge," he pointed to the large man at the other desk, "he's my political adviser."

"What do you need a political adviser for?" I asked, making it look like I was interested in what the warden had to say.

"You see I've been asked to run for State Governor of Texas. Last year I ran that practise game on ESPN 2 to the country; unfortunately that didn't turn out so well. My guards lost, by fluke of course, and I was humiliated on national television."

"I'm sorry to here that." I apologised, secretly rolling my eyes.

"Because of that game the state of Texas seemed to think that if I couldn't even run a football team successfully then the chances of running a state successfully would be quite slim.

"There were also complaints, from feminist groups and such, that I didn't give women any important roles during the game, other than cheerleading. This comes down to you girls," he specified to me, "I brought you here to show to the state that I am all for women's rights." Hazen sounded like a campaign message.

"Now," he huffed uncharacteristically, "to the reason I've asked to see you specifically." Hazen picked up a file from his desk and scan through its pages.

"Samantha Rose Carter." He bellowed my name somewhat proudly as he read the file.

"That's me." I huffed, narrowing my eyebrows at him, not knowing where this was going.

"Born and raised in North London, England by mother Lucy Eloise Carter and no father."

I just nodded as he walked around the desk.

"This may be coincidence, but I once knew a Lucy Carter _from England_…"

"What?" I scoffed, almost choking.

"You see I knew your mother a long time ago. We had a relationship for a while and then she left unexpectedly."

"Are you sure it's _my _mother you're thinking of? Lucy Carter sounds like a common name."

"Oh no it's her. You look somewhat like her. I saw you a while ago on the sports new about some soccer thing…" It trailed off, looking like he was trying to think about what that news piece was about. I got quite annoyed when he called football soccer, but I let it go.

He seemed to be talked about this like it was an everyday conversation topic.

The lines on Hazen's forehead seemed to grow narrower as he looked at me; an angry expression was now present on his face.

"I have to say though, that it is a bit pathetic that you had to meet me this way."

"Well I'm sorry I'm such a disappointment!" I spat suddenly. "Can I go now?" I asked getting impatient.

"Just one more thing, this is between us you hear. You tell anyone about this and there will be consequences. Captain." My so-called father called Knauer and nodded towards the now opened door.

I walked out the door without looking back, feeling like if I looked at Hazen's face again I just might vomit, or spit in his face at the least.


	3. Chapt 3

_**Chapt. 3**_

While I was back near my cell, as Knauer was taking my handcuffs off he could tell that something was wrong and looked around to see if anyone was close enough to hear what he was about to say.

"Is everything alright?" He examined me in a low voice.

I nodded trying not to tear up with anger... damn female hormones!

"Look," Knauer huffed, "don't tell him I told you this, but Hazen can be a real asshole. You just gotta learn to live with it; you can't let him get under your skin. The same thing goes for some of the inmates too… and the guards."

"You're right… I can-I can live with it. Everything's fine." I hesitated to say and Knauer looked at me disbelieving but nodded anyway.

I appreciate that he tried to help, I never expected the any of the guards here to act that way, but I felt like if I opened my mouth more then the whole thing about Hazen will come spilling out and I don't want to know what the consequences are if I tell anyone.

"Nice accent by the way." He complimented with a smile and walked off. It must be pretty rare to hear a British accent around Texas, because I seem to be hearing about my accent quite a bit.

Back in my cell I put on my beloved Arsenal hat and met Mindy outside.

"What did you have to see the warden 'bout?" Mindy asked the exact question I had been expecting.

"Uh…" I struggled trying to think of a cover-up story, "He just… wanted to… tell me the reason why he asked for our help for the game." Even though that was half true I still found it hard to believe.

"Why'd he only tell you for?"

"I don't know." I shrugged; glad to see I bought my answer. "I will tell you what he said tomorrow though, I am incredibly tired." I said, with a fake yawn and walked to my cell.

I didn't really feel like talking to anyone at that moment.

*

Next morning as the bell rang for breakfast the girls were escorted by the guards to the eating hall, where all the male inmates ate aswell.

Once we got inside the guards left us to ourselves, though the group still stuck together.

The butterfly in my stomach came back as I walked close behind Mindy into the line for our food, which seemed just as disgusting as the nosh back at the female prison, except they were actually given fruit aswell, not _fresh _fruit, but all the same.

I grabbed a banana and an orange and went towards where the other girls were sitting, at the far end of the hall way, away from the other prisoners.

On my way there a few inmates decided to wolf-whistle and call out names like 'Vanilla latte' and 'sugar'.

"You're probably gonna have to get used to that." Greta said, looking annoyed.

"Hey Sam…" Mindy called my name as she took as seat, "what was it that Hazen told you yesterday?" She asked, and my back cramped up at the sound of that slimy man's name.

"Oh he told me that…" I reported to them what Hazen told me about his political campaign.

"So this is all so that he gains more votes?" Asked Trish, a heavy, dark skinned inmate who signed up as the strength trainer for the cons team.

I nodded, clenching my fist tightly around my fork, so much so that an imprint of the fork's handle was appearing on the palm of my hand.

"I gotta admit that's kinda smart, but I really don't like the idea of him becoming governor." Said Jodie.

"Can't disagree with that." Mindy sighed.

After my last bite it took me a while to get up the courage to stand up and walk all the way to the other side of the hall to wash and put away my dish, but I figured I'd have to do it sooner or later.

I felt all eyes burning into me as I walked to the sink and again the calls of what seemed to be my new nicknames were said through the hall.

One of the inmates decided to stand up and decided to yell through the hall, "hey vanilla latte, why don't you _come _over here?" he said causing a gaggle of laughs and whistles to burst from his table. They all stopped when Knauer stepped out and called the inmate's name.

I gave him a small, grateful smile and I went to wash and put away my tray.

As I was walking back a man suddenly stood up just I walked past him and I crashed into him, almost knocking both of us out.

"Oh shit sorry!" I almost became hysterical thinking I'd bumped into a dangerous inmate, but then I looked up to see I had knocked into a man about my size. He looked about my age, had black hair and an egg-shaped head.

"Don't worry about it; I should have looked where I was going." He waved off my apology.

I just grinned genuinely and went to walk away when he tapped my arm lightly.

"I should probably introduce myself, I'm Paul Crewe." He muttered sticking his hand out.

"Oh, hello," I was taken by surprise as I shook his hand, "um, I'm Samantha Carter."

"I thought you looked familiar." Paul said randomly and I just looked at him narrowing my eyebrows.

"You played soccer for that women's team." He said trying to think of the name of my football team, then he looked at my hat "Ars-e-nal?" he was unsure about the name or how to pronounce it for that matter.

"It was Arsenal, but not this Arsenal." I corrected him, pointing to my hat explaining that the team printed on it was the male team. "Hey, you watch foot- I mean soccer?" The word soccer felt so wrong for me to say, but I said it just to avoid confusion.

"Only the women's really and I only caught it a couple of times when the football season was over. Female soccer players are a lot better looking than female football players." He joked and I chortled slightly. "You were pretty good by the way. Like a female… David Beckham." He complimented, looking like he was having trouble trying to think of a good football player.

"Thanks." Is all that I could think to say, feeling slightly awquard.

"Oh, this is some of the team…" Paul drew my attention to the other men at the table. He introduced them all one by one, it seemed to be a very mixed group of men.

"Hi I'm Sam." I smiled and waved to them.

"You're from England right?" Asked the oldest man I now knew to be Nate, "How you enjoying the weather here?" he inquired jokingly.

"Not greatly." I assured him and the table laughed sincerely. The men actually seemed pretty nice for a bunch of criminals.

"Oh there are the other girls… obviously." I pointed to the table where the girls were sitting.

"Hey who's the red-head?" I heard Paul say, probably a bit more loudly than he intended.

"That's Mindy." I told him, holding in a laugh.

Paul told me I could invite the other women to sit at his table, to make them feel a bit more comfortable here, so I waved them over.

Everyone seemed to be getting along pretty well and I found it kind of funny that Paul was making eyes at Mindy and she didn't even know.

"Are all the guards as arrogant as Lambert and Garner?" Greta asked the men.

"Most of them are." answered Paul, "Knauer's become _slightly_ better since last year though." He mentioned and I smiled to myself knowing that Knauer wasn't just nice to me and coincidently I caught his eye across the room, he gave me a quick, likely concealed, smile and turned away.

"I think he's just getting tired of Hazen." Said the inmate Paul introduced as Megget, grabbing my attention away from Knauer. The name Hazen seemed to tear into me like a chainsaw… I hate him. I feel like I have dirty blood just from knowing he's my father.

When Mindy and I walked outside after breakfast she lightened my mood a bit.

"I didn't know if I should tell you this or not but I noticed the Captain kept checking you out from across the room. I think he was tryin' to keep it a bit hush-hush, but it was too obvious" She mentioned, a worried tone was hinted in her voice but secretly my heart skipped a beat when she said that. "You aren't getting feelings for him are you?" she asked sternly, "I know that sort of thing is hard to control but you have to be careful…"

"Mindy, Mindy…" I stopped her from continuing, "I know. I don't have feelings for Knauer anyway." Liar, I thought to myself.

Out of the blue I decided I couldn't keep my secret from Mindy, since she seems to be telling me everything.

"Mindy…" I trailed off and looked around to see if anyone was listening, "I need to tell you something that you have to _swear _that you won't tell _anyone_."

"Yeah, of course." Mindy promised, looking me in the eyes.

Then, like word-vomit I blurted out that the warden was my father.


	4. Chapt 4

_**Chapt. 4**_

After I told Mindy that Hazen was my father she looked at me for about fifteen minutes, open-mouthed and silent.

She finally spoke a few more minutes later, in a hoarse, dehydrated voice, "how did you not know this?"

"I don't know. I think I saw his name on my birth certificate but after the stories my mother told of him I never gave him a second thought." I assumed.

"What kind of stories?"

"She always said that he always worked; never saw her; every time he _did_ see her he only spoke to her rudely or not at all, when she got pregnant he…" I paused there feeling like I was about to be sick.

"What?" Mindy didn't know what was going through my mind.

"He knew my mother was pregnant with me and…" I gritted my teeth as I said the next part, "he wanted nothing to do with it." I hated that man more than I thought possible.

"I'm so sorry Sam." Mindy comforted.

"It's fine." I said. "I don't really care. I didn't care my whole life, not going to care now." Mindy looked sort of worried when I said that, but to be honest, I didn't feel anything except angry for my mother, how she would've had to deal with the fact that the man she thought she loved turned out to be a total git. I'm glad I grew up without him.

"I guess you'd be better off without him." Said Mindy, still looking unsure if I was okay.

*

The team started their first practice mid next day.

All the women seemed to be standing around unsure of what they were supposed to do, even though it was specifically explained to them. A few kept walking on the field while a play was going on while others didn't even move.

From what I saw the boys looked pretty good though, from what I knew about the sport; they seemed to run where they were supposed to, they caught brilliantly and from what I knew they had pretty good defence. No wonder they won last time.

I seemed to be doing my job pretty well, it didn't take much skill. At the end of the practice I handed out the little water that the cons had been permitted.

Paul gave me the ball at the end of the training session to play around with the girls a bit, which was the most fun I had in a long, long time. Though all I seemed to be able to do was kick the ball around, which felt a little weird with the egg-shaped ball compared to the round ball.

When everyone was leaving for dinner I had Jodie hold the ball upwards on it's tip on the ground in front of two poles which were supposed to be the goal posts.

I ran up to it and kicked it straight through the posts and further, a lot further to my surprise.

"That was amazing." Jodie gasped just as the ball landed. "That went really far."

I just shrugged it off, thinking she was exaggerating, and went to eat.

*

The next day the boys began their practice as soon as the sun rose; they seemed to want every minute they could get to practice.

I didn't pay attention half the time as I sat on the steps waiting until the players would be in need of my assistance.

All the other girls seemed to be getting the most duties throughout the training session; Mindy was running up and down the field handing out sweaty towels, Jodie was becoming exhausted from having to grab the ball if it went out too far and Greta seemed to be enjoying giving Megget's legs a stretch, which Megget seemed to be liking just as much.

I didn't think that my stay here would get anymore interesting.

I started to pay more attention when the guys started practicing their defence, which was actually enjoyable to watch.

Suddenly, when Trey, the punter, went to kick a field goal Battle, a big, well built man, tackled him while he had his leg in the air. He started screaming with pain, I think he did damage to his hamstring.

I knew exactly what Trey was feeling as he held his leg, finding out there is no way to move it without feeling like a knife was tearing through it. I got up to check and make sure he didn't do anything to damage his leg some more, like move it the wrong way.

"Excuse me." I said over and over again as I pushed my way through the large men.

Luckily I got there just before Greta was going to stretch Trey's leg out. "No! Don't!" I barked and Greta moved her hands away from his legs immediately. "If it's the hamstring, anymore movements could damage his leg further." I advised everyone.

"Right," huffed Paul, running his hands frustratingly over his face, "Brucie, Torres slowly pick him up and help him walk to the hospital wing. Don't let him move his leg too much."

"Yes sir." Said Brucie, in his Joe Pesci-like voice, and Torres just nodded before they both went to pick the injured man up.

As they limped away the rest of the team were discussing what they were going to do.

"No worries," said Paul, "we can still practice; we just have to wait 'til the report on Trey's leg gets to us."

When the boys went back to the game, Mindy walked up to me slowly looking like she wanted to tell me something.

"Sam," she relucted, "you could play punter, and you'd be really good."

"You can't be serious." I scoffed, staring at Mindy as though she was joking.

"It was just a thought." Mindy shrugged it off just as the lunch bell rang. "I mean that kick you did yesterday was..."

"Was probably nothing special." I interrupted and i walked to the hall not wanting to continue the conversation.

*

During lunch, when I went to pick up a food tray, Knauer came over and stood beside me appearing like he wanted to talk.

"Getting settled alright?" He asked from the corner of his mouth.

"Um, I guess so…" I said quietly, pondering why someone would ask a question like that in a prison.

"That punter, Trey Matthews, isn't going to be able to play for a while, at least a couple of months." Knauer instructed.

"Thanks, how come you're telling me this?"

"The warden wasn't going to let you guys know." He reported. "He thinks that it'll stop the team from practicing for a bit."

"That still doesn't explain why you're telling me this, or anyone on the con's side for that matter." I still didn't understand where he was going with this; why did he want to help the inmates?

"Don't get me wrong, I would like to win it's just…" Knauer paused and came slightly closer; still trying to look casual, "I _really _don't want that man running this state, especially after…" He was so close to me now that our faces were almost touching, forgetting that he was supposed to be looking casual, I had a feeling we were being watched but I didn't care, "after what he did to you." I was caught by complete surprise when he said that. Did he know? I didn't get a chance to find out as he walked away before I could ask him.

When I got my food I was so dazed, I didn't realise how much food I had put on my plate. About five bananas sat on the tray and three oranges.

Guard Dunham saw how much food I had taken and yelled at me for taking so much food, so I took four bananas and two of the oranges and put them back, surprised that I was able to fit so much on to the tray.

I was so out of my head when I sat down that I almost forgot to tell the team about Trey, which I only remembered when Mindy asked me why I was so quiet.

"What are we going to do now?" Megget quizzed the team. "Who else have we got?"

"I can be kicker." Brucie insisted enthusiastically and the whole team rolled their eyes.

"We've already discussed this Brucie." Declared Deacon Moss, rolling his eyes just like the rest of his teammates.

For the rest of the conversation I blanked out, until I felt someone nudge my elbow, knocking me awake.

I shot my head up to see Jodie was the person who tapped me.

"You know what Sam? You could play punter." She said and I gave her the exact stare I gave Mindy when she said the same thing.

"Paul!" Jodie suddenly yelled out across the table making me jump. When everyone turned to face her she told Paul what she intended. "Paul, I think you should give Sam a try."

My eyes widened when she finished, having not expected her to say that.

The whole table froze for under a second until the men started laughing, leaving the women, other then myself, to grunt at the boys for being so pathetic. I tried to laugh as I looked at Paul, pretending like Jodie was only kidding.

"I'll… think about it." Paul muttered not knowing which side to take.

I didn't really care, that wasn't my idea.

*

Again at the end of the training session the girls were given the ball to play with.

For some reason the girls kept wanting me to kick field goals every time I was handed the ball, I did so.

When the girls started to get bored I placed the ball on a pile of dirt I made to look like a rugby kicking tee and kicked the ball when it finally stood still.

The pig-skin went about the same length as it had last time and I did a sort of twirl in front of the girls to show I was proud of myself only to find the men from the team were standing.

I noticed Paul standing in front of everyone with an impressed expression on his face.

"That had to be about sixty yards." Paul gasped and he gave a sudden expression on his face that said he had a thought. "Can you do that again?"

"Um yeah…" I shrugged, sounding utterly deluded as Greta came over with the ball and placed it on the ground the way that Jodie had the other day.

I took a deep breath, ran forwards with my legs slightly shaking and I kicked the ball with all the force I could surface.

"We'll take her." I heard Nate say.

Great, I thought sarcastically.


	5. Chapt 5

_**Chapt. 5**_

The next morning during breakfast all eyes of the inmates were burning into me as though I was some sort of joke. I think they all found out, through the grape-vine I'm daring to say, that I'm playing in the guards verse cons game. That could only mean that the guards have found out as well.

Even though I had a small role I still felt like I had the weight of the entire prison on my shoulders, especially since I knew nothing about American football.

I was more annoyed to see that Captain Knauer wasn't coming near me that morning, probably feeling awquard about what he told me yesterday, but I just wanted to know what he meant by "what the warden did to me." Maybe he just assumed something.

I also just realised that I hadn't had a shower in so many days; I had no idea where I was supposed to wash myself as no one seemed to want to outline that certain detail.

When I sat down Paul explained me the rules of the game and what I'll be doing.

"…so you should already know that you'll be kicking field goals, but a punter does a bit more than that. You have to know how to kick high as well as length." He outlined the main parts.

"Why would I need to kick high?" I asked not knowing what he meant by that part.

"To keep the opposing team as far away from their touch line as possible, so that might mean getting the ball up extremely high, for as long as possible. D'you understand now?"

I nodded. "I'll probably understand it more once we start playing." I mistakenly guaranteed.

"Good. We know you can kick goals so all we'll need to make sure of is that you can… take a hit." Paul looked quite guilty.  
"H-how are we going to make sure of that?" I started getting scared now, seeing the reality that I may also end up like Trey, or most definitely worse.

And before I knew it, after breakfast, I was suited up in the knight's armour-like football protection and on the receiving end of Torres.

The first time round that he bolted up to tackle me I ran for it, humiliating myself in front of everyone. But then the second time I promised myself I would stay put.

As Torres started speeding up my brain told me to run again, but my legs wouldn't move and soon enough I felt my back hit hard ground through the protection.

I was able to get up, though evidently slowly I will admit and Paul gave me a pause.

"You took it a bit better than I expected." He admitted.

After a minute sit down, we started a game and I began it with a smooth kick off.

I stuck in the middle of the field until I was handed the ball by Deacon to kick a field goal, but I froze and was tackled by Battle, which hurt a lot more than Torres' tackle, but I still managed to get up, though a lot slower this time.

"Sorry." I grunted as I got up.

I did a bit better at actually moving my feet the next few times, I even got two field goals.

Lunch came around and I stunk so bad I think a skunk would have fallen in love with me.

I didn't get the chance to ask where I could take a shower because I was called to the warden's office.

Being escorted by Garner to my father's office I could tell, from the smirk on his face, that whatever the warden wanted couldn't be good.

After I stepped in his office and Garner stepped out Hazen got straight into it.

"What in the _hell _do you think you're doin'?" He roared.

I shrugged, not knowing what he was talking about.

"Playin' out there with those cons as though you're an American." He growled and I rolled my eyes after figuring out what he was on about.

"What does being an American have to do with anything? All I'm doing is kicking the ball around the field. I'm punter that's it." I raised my voice louder than necessary. "And besides, apparently I am, what, half-American anyway."

"I didn't say anythin' about the women being allowed to play. No one is an exception."

"I'm playing whether you like it or not. Besides, where do you get off not letting the team know they have an injured player?"

"This is my prison and I'll do whatever the hell I want. You continue to play on the team and I'll send you back to that whore-factory you call home." He threatened me.

"If you do that than I'll tell everyone that I'm you daughter." I blurted, not caring about the consequences anymore.

"You wouldn't dare, if you knew what was good for ya."

"I would." I threatened back. "Or maybe I'll just call up a feminist group and tell them how you won't let a woman play in the big game. I'm sure the female residents in the state of Texas would love to hear about that."

The expression on Hazen's face hinted that he was quite taken aback at that threat and paused for a bit.

"Fine. But you get hurt, which you most probably will, don't come crying to me." He finished. "Now get out of my office." He said and I opened the door before Garner could and walked straight out.

Out in the hall Knauer finally came to talk to me.

"What's this I hear 'bout you playing?" He asked.

"I- it happened so quickly. The team had no other option." I tried to redeem myself, I don't know why I felt I needed to be apologetic with Knauer, but I couldn't help it.

"This means we have to be enemies I guess." He smirked, challengingly.

"Um… do we have to be?" I smirked back, trying desperately not to flirt.

"No, not if you want to take a shower in private." He said and I became marvelled at those last three words. I later realised, after shaking the naughty thoughts from my head, that he meant something else.

While everyone was still at lunch Knauer led me to the unoccupied showers and locked the door behind him making sure no one else could come in.

"Go in." He said leaning on the door.

When I got undressed and stepped under the water, I realised I had forgotten how good clean, hot water felt on my body.

After washing my hair and shaving my legs I turned the water off and put a towel on before I walked over to my clothes to get dressed, after which I went out to meet Knauer, who was still standing at the door.

"Did I take long?" I asked making sure I hadn't wasted his time.

"Not long for a woman at least." He laughed and we both walked out.

"Hey Captain…" I hesitated as he turned to face me, "what did you mean yesterday when you said…"

"Not here." He interrupted and told me to follow him to somewhere quiet.

He took me to a double-door entrance far away from the inmate inhabited areas and I walked in to see an entire locker room, surely for the guard's football team.

"Sit down." He offered pointing to one of the two lounges in front of a television and I complied.

Knauer was pacing in front of me as I was seated and after going up and down a couple of times he finally sat down slowly in the lounge beside me and looked me straight in the eyes.

"Now, _please _don't get angry about this…" he paused not knowing how to tell me what he needed to, "before you and the other female inmates came here I looked through your files, as the warden ordered. I didn't really bother reading through the files thoroughly until I saw yours."

"Why would I get angry about this? You were just doing your job." I reassured him.

"The thing is... I read something that I really don't think I should've seen." He continued to stare straight at me with his beautiful blue eyes. "That the warden is your father."

"I know." I said, ashamed about that piece of information. "He told me on the first day I came here. But I still don't see why I would be angry about that." I said truthfully.

"I don't know. I guess I should've been the one to tell you, I know how cruel and insensitive the warden can be."

"I'm not angry about that. I would've been upset anyway; especially after I remembered he didn't want me in the first place, when my mother had me."

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened to your mother?" Knauer questioned.

"She past away at the start of last year." I breathed.

"I'm sorry." Knauer apologised unnecessarily.

"It's okay." I waved off his apology. "She had a lump on her breast for a while but got it checked too late, then found out she had breast cancer." I explained, trying not to get too teary.

Knauer looked like he wanted to say something but didn't know what to say.

"Why d'you move to Texas?" Knauer continued with the questions.

"A few days before she died she had told me that my father lived in Texas. I thought nothing of it at the time, but after she died I thought I may as well go find him, see what he was really like."

"Disappointing huh?" Knauer grunted.

I nodded gritting my teeth together.

"Sorry I asked so many questions." Knauer excused himself, feeling guilty.

I let out a short sincere laugh. "No need to apologise. Curiosity is a common trait."

"What curiosities do you have?" Knauer changed the pace of the conversation and not until he smirked did I realise something, he was flirting with me.

Suddenly I noticed our faces were getting closer and closer, until I could feel his breath sweep gently across my face. Our lips touched gently when without warning he turned away. It didn't take me long to realise why.

We both heard talking and footsteps outside and I caught Knauer huff out the word "shit" to himself so I looked back at him.

"Come on." He whispered ahead of pulling my hand to the back of the locker room just as the double-doors were slammed open.

Knauer informed me that by good luck there was a door at the back of the locker room that led to outside and I followed his instructions for the way to the main prison yard.

I stepped just outside the door and found that I had to stop for a moment, leaning against the outer wall of the locker room, to reflect on what had just happened. If Knauer and I hadn't been interrupted would we have kissed properly? I realised my cheeks were flushed at the thought, but quickly tried to forget about it all as not to look suspicious, though my heart was still quite fluttery.


	6. Chapt 6

_**Chapt. 6**_

About a week into training I was starting to get better at doing what I was supposed to do as the team's punter.

The rest of the inmates, after witnessing my progress, were becoming a little more satisfied with the way I played and were beginning to be accepting of me in the team.

Besides all this I still hadn't forgotten about that almost-kiss I had with Knauer. It's hard to forget, especially since he has been helping me get private showers during lunch every second day.

Whenever someone, like Mindy or Paul, asks where I've been that lunch, Knauer said to say I've been doing his laundry.

But after that day in the guards locker room Knauer has been slightly awkward around me.

Monday of the next week I had been told that I had library duty along with Jodie and two girls, Adie Sheen and Darla Casoni, from the guard's team.

Jodie and I worked together on arranging the books on the shelves into alphabetical order while Adie and Darla decided to empty all the book carts.

We were all working quietly until Darla, a towering, blonde woman, started to speak.

"I wonder what we're going to be eating at lunch today." She said louder than I thought necessary, especially since we were in a library.

"Me too," Said Adie, a pear-shaped, bob-haired woman, with about the same pitch in her voice as Darla had used. "I hope it's the roast chicken like we had last Tuesday." It wasn't until she said that did I realise what they were trying to do.

They had probably been given better food at meal times for choosing the guard's side instead of the cons.

Jodie and I just looked at each other, rolling our eyes simultaneously not caring. We've been eating McDonalds for the past week, thanks to Cheeseburger Eddie, so both our appetites and tastebuds were satisfied.

Adie looked like she wanted to rattle me and Jodie on some more so she continued to speak.

"Did you have a good sleep last night Darla?" She asked her inmate friend, though she never took her eyes off of Jodie and me.

"Like every night." Darla squealed. "Those mattresses we were given were pretty comfortable _and _clean…"

"We get it. You're having a good time." Snapped Jodie, apparently annoyed and the two women began to cackle with laughter.

"So the whore speaks." Adie insulted her, laughing while she was at it as well as Darla. Jodie looked as though the word 'whore' really hit home.

"Don't call her that!" I barked and the laughter stopped, though the smirk on Adie's never left her face.

"I'm only speaking the truth, foreigner." Said Adie trying to make a puppy-eyed expression, failing miserably at that, and Jodie looked as though she had the urge to run away. "Didn't she tell you the reason she's in here?"

I shook my head slightly, not entirely sure I wanted to know the answer.

"She was a prostitute." Said Adie glaring at Jodie with a satisfied expression on her face.

"So…" Was all I could think to say and in about half a second Jodie ran off to the back of the library.

"Bitch." I called Adie before I chased after Jodie.

Finding Jodie in the art book section of the library I walked slowly up to her to see if she was alright.

"Hey…" I was short for words again; I was never any good with sympathy.

"You probably think I'm a slut as well." Said Jodie turning to look my way, but not straight at me. She wasn't crying, but she did look angry.

"No, I don't." I assured sincerely and Jodie gave me a small smile.

"I was only a prostitute because I needed the money." She explained after a lengthy silence.

"Why d'you need the money?" I asked, hoping that the question wasn't too personal.

Jodie huffed and leaned against one of the book carts. I walked closer and leaned on the shelf in front of her.

"I have a son back home…" She said, her eyes becoming slightly teary. "Christian. He'd be about four now." She said smiling to herself. "When he was born I was a single mum and I didn't have enough money to take care of the both of us. The child welfare authorities told me that if I didn't get enough money they'd take him to an orphanage."

I nodded understandingly.

"I tried for a while to look for a job that would pay at least enough money to get by, but nothing. So I… joined an escort service." Jodie's eyes were now flooded with tears. "I was sent here a week before Christian turned two. He probably doesn't even remember my face." Her voice became hoarse as she cupped her face in her hands.

I had no idea what it was like to have and then be taken away from a child, but even I know that it would be one of the most painful things to have to go through.

I patted Jodie on the shoulder to help her feel that it was going to be alright.

"You know…" Jodie began to speak again, her voice getting steadier as she wiped the tears from her eyes, "there's a saying that if a child hears it's mother's voice when it's born, that it will never forget the sound of it, no matter how long they've been apart. Do you think that's true?" She asked me with a glimpse of hope in her eye; I nodded yes with a truthful smile on my face.

Realising the fact that Jodie had told me about one of her biggest secrets I decided to return the favour and I blurted out that the warden was my father.

She gave me the same reaction that Mindy had given me, but then her expression changed to one a bit more sincere when I told her how he didn't want to be my father.

"Don't worry about it." She said. "You were probably a lot better off without him anyway."

"I agree with that." I said. "You can't tell anyone what I just told you though, okay?"

"Of course." Jodie guaranteed. "Though, it would be pretty funny to see the look on the old man's face if everyone does find out." She laughed at that though until I looked at her with an expression that said 'don't even think about it'.

*

After I finished my library shift I went back to football training and coming back from what happened to the women on the guard's side I was more determined to become better than ever.

I started improving on my running and kicking on demand, both which were taken from my own football playing past.

The only things I needed to improve on was taking tackles, something which was going to take quite a while and moving when scared from an oncoming bull-like tackler.

When practice was over the whole team looked a lot more relieved when they noticed I was becoming a little better.

"You're doing really well." Paul complimented me as we were walking to lunch and I also found myself at ease about the fact that I was doing better than I thought I would.

A few steps into the lunch hall and I saw Knauer who got me to remember that he could get me into the shower today so I told my fellow inmates that I had to go do the laundry for the guards and I walked towards Knauer.

"Hey," I greeted Knauer, who was just leaning casually against the wall.

"Hello," he whispered before he walked towards the showers, waving for me to follow him.

When we got into the showers I got undressed straight away and stepped right in under the water, which always seemed to be the best thing to wash all my daily prison worries and issues.

Stepping out after I turned off the shower and wrapped a towel around myself I went to go grab my clothes when I tripped over my shoes, causing me to fall and slam onto the ground.

"Aah!" I screamed at the top of my lungs as I collapsed and hit the concrete floor.

"Sam!" I heard Knauer yell back; probably thinking I was in danger or something.

Before I could call out that I was okay he walked in on me lying on the floor, and wearing nothing but a towel.

I got up quickly, embarrassed that he caught me looking, what had to be, one of my stupidest moments.

"Oh shit!" Knauer apologised, turning away as soon as he saw that I was half-naked.

"It's okay." I said trying to make sure he didn't feel anymore worse about the situation than he already did.

Seemingly done panicking Knauer just stood on the spot, staring at me as though this situation wasn't awquard enough.

"What?" I quizzed him as I watched the unreadable expression on his face.

He walked closer to me staring me straight in the eyes as he did.

"I can't take it anymore." He sighed and before I could ask what he meant he grabbed my face under my damp hair and pressed his lips onto mine.

My eyes widened at first but as the pash continued my eyes fluttered closed when I realised I was enjoying it about as much as I had wanted it.

Regaining myself I lifted my arms up and put them around Knauer's neck as his hands lowered onto my shoulders and then lower until they rested on the small of my back, pulling me closer to him when his hands stopped.

Breaking quickly for a breathe I saw a smile flicker on Knauer's face.

"Did you enjoy that?" He teased, keeping his face close to mine.

"You have no idea." I purred and I pressed my lips against his, though this time a lot more passionately.


End file.
